The Thrill Is Gone: A Tribute To B.B. King on FEB 16 + 17

Music icon Ann Wilson of Heart has joined the star-studded line up of the B.B. King concert celebration. She joins a lineup that includes Anthony Hamilton, Bob Margolin, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy, David Hidalgo, Derek Trucks, Ivan Neville, Jamey Johnson, Jimmie Vaughan, John Scofield, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Little Steven, Robert Cray, Robert Randolph, Shemekia Copeland, Southside Johnny, Steve Cropper, Susan Tedeschi, Tony TC Coleman, Warren Haynes, and William Bell. In addition, Grammy-nominated artist Christone “KINGFISH” Ingram and Val B. King (Granddaughter of B.B. King) join the lineup.

The Thrill Is Gone: A Tribute To B.B. King features two unique nights of music February 16, and 17, 2020, at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

Grammy® Award-winning producer and legendary drummer, Steve Jordan, will serve as musical director overseeing a stellar all-star house band including Pino Palladino, Reverend Charles Hodges, Isaiah Sharkey and more. .

A portion of proceeds from The Thrill Is Gone: A Tribute To B.B. King will benefit the Seva Foundation, a global nonprofit eye care organization that transforms lives and strengthens communities by restoring sight and preventing blindness. The SEVA Foundation was co-founded by Wavy Gravy, a close friend of B.B. King, for over 40 years and whose moniker was given to him by King at the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. .

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Blues Hall of Fame inductee, B.B. King is one of the greatest and most influential artists of all time. Winning over 16 Grammy® Awards during his career, including a Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award, King was also honored with The Kennedy Center Honors and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Releasing over 44 studio albums, his hits include: “The Thrill Is Gone,” “When Love Comes To Town,” “Every Day I Have the Blues,” “3 O’Clock Blues,” and “Big Boss Man” to name a few. While B.B. will forever be known as the King of the Blues, his impact on the history of modern music across nearly all genres is immeasurable. .

The Thrill Is Gone: A Tribute To B.B. King is executive produced by Keith Wortman of Blackbird Presents in partnership with B.B. King Estate and Peter Shapiro, owner of The Capitol Theatre. Scooter Weintraub is executive producer along with Tony TC Coleman, longtime drummer for B.B. King as co-producer. .

Tesla Announce New Live Album, ‘Five Man London Jam’

The new title is set for worldwide release through UMe on 27 March.

US rockers Tesla will release their new live album, Five Man London Jam worldwide on 27 March through UMe. The album is a live performance of some their most iconic songs from their catalogue.

Five Man London Jam was recorded and filmed in 4K high definition as an homage to their critically acclaimed and highly influential Top 20 platinum album Five Man Acoustical Jam. Five Man London Jam will be available in multiple formats including Blu-ray, 2LP vinyl, CD and digitally.

Produced by Tesla, Five Man London Jam is being released in conjunction with the group’s upcoming North American tour dates that will run throughout 2020, starting in Pensacola, FL on 14 February. Visit the band’s official website for further information on all the dates. -

The recording of this live album took place when Tesla visited the famed iconic recording studio Abbey Road Studios for a one-night musical event capturing the band performing songs from their legendary arsenal including ‘Love Song’ and ‘What You Give’ along with their classic covers of ‘Signs’ and ‘We Can Work It Out.’ Additionally, the band performed live for the first time-ever their new song ‘California Summer Song’ from their latest album Shock including ‘Tied To The Tracks’ and ‘Forever Loving You.’

One of the world’s most celebrated and enduring rock bands with a die-hard, loyal fanbase, Tesla have enjoyed international chart, radio, and tour success for nearly 35 years, with multi-platinum albums and global album sales topping 15 million.

That they are still roaring, and soaring should be no surprise. That’s just how they are built. Tesla may have been born in the mid ‘80s eruption of excess, but this band has never been about those things.

Their bluesy, soulful sound is strongly embedded in the roots of organic, authentic 1970s rock and roll. The same roots that produced bands like the Allman Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Aerosmith. Tesla’s legacy is alive and well as they continue to record and sell out venues all over the world.

Udiscovermusic.com – Tim Peacock

Two Classic 1960s Albums By Cat Stevens Head For Vinyl Reissue

The LPs are his 1967 debut album ‘Matthew & Son’ and the swift follow-up which appeared the same year, ‘New Masters.’

Two classic 1960s albums by Cat Stevens, the artist also subsequently known as Yusuf Islam, will be reissued on high quality 180-gram vinyl by Decca/UMC on 13 March. They are his 1967 debut album Matthew & Son and the swift follow-up which appeared the same year, New Masters.

The albums thus become available on vinyl for the first time since 1982, newly “de-mixed” with enhanced vocals at Abbey Road Studios and with fully restored artwork. The revolutionary software breathes new life into the original masters, enhance the original vocals and helping to amplify the bass, which mixes in the late 1960s were often unable to do.

The English singer-songwriter went on to countless millions of record sales and a permanent place in the hearts of admirers of intelligent, sensitive song craft. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Born Steven Georgiou in London in 1948, he grew up above his parent’s cafe in the West End and emerged in 1966 with his debut single for Decca’s Deram label, his own song ‘I Love My Dog.’

The track, produced by Mike Hurst, reached No. 28 in the UK chart that November and the following March, it was included on Matthew & Son, recorded at Decca’s West Hampstead studios. The title track single which also preceded the LP was a major success, reaching No. 2 in Stevens’ home country for two weeks, outsold only by the Monkees’ ‘I’m A Believer.’

As well as becoming a teen pin-up, Stevens made a name as a hit writer for others, penning the Tremolos’ ‘Here Comes My Baby’ and P.P. Arnold’s much covered ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest,’ among others. Matthew & Son featured his own version of ‘Here Comes My Baby’ as well as ‘Portobello Road,’ written with Kim Fowley.

Just nine months after the first LP, Deram capitalized on Stevens’ success by releasing New Masters. It included his own recording of ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ and was again cut at Decca Studios. This initial phase of Stevens’ career was cut short when he contracted tuberculosis in 1968, but that prompted the spiritual self-discovery that came to define both his life and his timeless work.

Matthew & Son and New Masters are reissued on 180-gram vinyl on 13 March.

Udiscovermusic.com – Paul Sexton

Stone Temple Pilots Talk 'Living, Maturing & Getting Older' With New Album 'Perdida' – Billboard Magazine – Bryan Rolli

In 2018, Stone Temple Pilots released their second self-titled album in eight years, marking their recording debut with new lead singer Jeff Gutt and their first release since the death of their original lead singer, Scott Weiland, in 2015 and his 2013-2015 successor, Chester Bennington, in 2017. Alternating between hooky alt-rock anthems and meditative power-pop ballads, Stone Temple Pilots granted a well-earned victory to a band that had suffered its fair share of public tragedy. With a new front man and a new album under their belts, Stone Temple Pilots had once again resurrected themselves in the face of adversity.

Now, the band members -- guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, drummer Eric Kretz and Gutt -- are looking to the past to forge their future, drawing on the sounds of their childhood for their new acoustic album, Perdida, which translates to "loss" in Spanish. Recorded primarily at Kretz's Bomb Shelter Studio, Perdida is a sweeping set of reflections on past relationships, equal parts mournful and celebratory. Inspired by the singer-songwriters and folk artists who populated '60s and '70s AM radio, the album allows Stone Temple Pilots to expand upon musical elements they explored on a series of increasingly experimental albums during their commercial heyday, including 1994's Billboard 200-topping Purple and 1996's Tiny Music… Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop.

"For myself, growing up on '70s AM radio, there were so many great folk musicians, between Joan Baez and John Denver and Gordon Lightfoot," Kretz says. "I was surrounded by all of that as a child, and Robert and Dean grew up on the same kind of influences. So, it's really nice to be able to pull from emotions and influences you had as a young child that weren't related to loud, heavy rock n' roll."

Perdida's stripped-back sound gave the band a chance to incorporate a variety of instruments not usually found in hard rock, including alto saxophone, flute, cello and Marxophone. The album challenged every player to emphasize the space between the notes and create dynamics without simply cranking an amp or pummeling a cymbal. Stone Temple Pilots recorded several songs live in the studio and ironed out the arrangements together, much like they did decades ago when Robert presented the acoustic shells of future super-hits "Plush" and "Interstate Love Song." "We were approached to do a couple songs acoustically, and we have the luxury of Robert and Dean just having so many great ideas at their fingertips, so it was pretty easy to put together the whole album," Kretz says.

The drummer also attributes much of Perdida's vintage, lived-in feel to Gutt, who, like Weiland before him, channels the achingly melodic sounds of '70s vocal groups such as the Carpenters. "They can truly live it, and that's a huge credit to why those songs sound the way they do," Kretz says of both singers. "Musically, we can come up with those styles, but vocally there's no hiding what's behind the human voice, as far as getting that emotion correct, and getting the lyrics correct, and getting pronunciation and phrasing correct to fit that style of music."

It's tempting to view all of Perdida as a tribute to Weiland and Bennington, but most of the songs deal with romantic and familial relationships instead. Often, they sound like they could be about all three, as on the haunting "Miles Away," where Gutt sings: "I'd canvas the sea / Just to know what you knew / Wanna feel everything / You've ever been through /You're so far from me / I can honestly say / I'm longing for you / Not just memories of you, miles away."

These are not the kind of lyrics that would sound convincing if simply read off a sheet; they require a lot from Gutt as a singer and interpreter. He rises to the occasion on both fronts, powering through the chorus of relatively upbeat lead single "Fare Thee Well" and pulling back on the somber, classically tinged title track, dipping into his lower register as orchestral strings swell behind him. Gutt claims co-writing credits on eight of the album's 10 songs, and they sound like the work of a singer and lyricist who has labored alongside his bandmates for several years now, sharing in their triumphs and disappointments.

"We were kind of with Jeff day and night for the last two years," Kretz says. "So, all the heartache that Dean and Robert and I were going through over the last couple of years, Jeff could interpret it in his own way, where he felt comfortable presenting it lyrically and to be able to sing it. And he really lived in it.

He really understood what it's like to be in a band and what your brothers are going through sometimes." Despite its often-sorrowful lyrics, Perdida ends on an optimistic note with the six-and-a-half-minute "Sunburst," a tribute to the people whom the members of Stone Temple Pilots have loved and lost, and who continue to light up the world with their memories. "A sunburst comes / A sunburst goes / Leaving behind more than anyone knows / Glimmer of light for a flower to grow," Gutt sings in one of just two verses. In true classic rock tradition, the band vamps for the song's final three minutes, settling into a hypnotic groove and delivering tasteful fills as Gutt sings repeatedly, "You're sun bursting again."

Musically, it's new ground for Stone Temple Pilots, who have never been prone to extended jamming on record. Lyrically, it synthesizes the feelings of love, misery, uncertainty and gratitude that populate Perdida. "Myself, Robert and Dean are in our fifties, so we've lived a full life, and we've lost some really wonderful, special people: family members, loved ones," Kretz says. "Growing older with relationships, things change, things mature, things get better. We all have kids. I can look at them and their future. It is all across the board that way, cause it's all a part of living and maturing and getting older, and just reflecting on everything we've been through, and what's going to be in the future as well."